‘The Serpent’s Skin’ Review: Alice Maio Mackay’s Heart-Wrenching Supernatural Horror Romance Sparks with Visual Flair [A-]

Coming out of the closet can be a relieving experience. When you finally reveal your true self to the world, it means taking a huge weight off your shoulders. However, life after coming out can be as much a journey as the trauma of being stuck in the closet may find ways to linger. The Serpent’s Skin, the sixth feature by Australian filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers, Carnage for Christmas), dares to examine such trauma. Through a supernatural lens, Mackay shows how such trauma never fully dissipates but can still be handled and confronted. 

When Anna (Alexandra McViker), a trans woman with magical abilities, leaves her small-minded hometown to start a new life in Adelaide, she moves in with her older sister Dakota (Charlotte Chimes). As Anna settles in and even finds employment at a record store, she finds love with Gen (Avalon Fast), a tattoo artist who also possesses supernatural gifts. But complications arise when Gen unwittingly summons a demon through a cursed tattoo she gives to Anna’s guitarist neighbor Danny (Jordan Dilieu). Both Anna and Gen must then use their abilities to stop the possessed Danny before he not only takes the lives of both women but those close to them.

The demon that both Anna and Gen face serves as a manifestation for the torment of being closeted that LGBTQ+ people always aim to forcibly bury. But even as the film’s antagonistic supernatural entity creates a lingering fear with its opening scene involving Anna committing self-harm showing horrors transpiring in real life, there are moments of serene tenderness to give the film necessary levity. 

Such scenes include the ones where Anna and Gen engage in romantic bliss and embrace their magical gifts. Anna’s relationship with Gen that strengthens her own power set, stressing how queer and trans people are only more powerful through connection and amplifying each other, is made all the more effective by the chemistry between Alexandra McViker and Avalon Fast. With just a nervous line reading, Alexandra McViker is able to carve out both a history of anguish and a need to start her life anew while Avalon Fast brings magnetism and poignancy to the role of Gen. 

Along with great central performances, The Serpent’s Skin possesses vibrant cinematography by DP Aaron Schuppan. When Anna and Gen are in bed together, they’re encased by tranquil blue coloring while scenes with a possessed Danny have a more fiery-looking tint. Along with  the brief 83-minute runtime and micro-budget effects, the visual aesthetic makes The Serpent’s Skin feel like an emblem of 90’s nostalgia as it’s like watching an episode of the classic horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? or an early episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A visual time capsule with a contemporary story, a horror pic that’s as startling as it is serene, and a film where two women being blissfully in love is as much a political statement as the one scene where Anna uses her powers to burn a TERF propaganda ad with her mind, The Serpent’s Skin is a spellbinding effort from Alice Maio Mackay. With six films already under her belt, the 21-year-old filmmaker is bound to not only have one wondering what more ideas she has up her sleeve but what she could do if she makes a big studio move. 

Grade: A-

The Serpent’s Skin is currently in limited release from Dark Star Pictures in New York City and Los Angeles and will expand to more theaters in the coming weeks.

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Matt St. Clair

Matt is a New England-based freelance journalist who lives and breathes the world of cinema and has been an Oscar watcher since the age of eight. His writing can be found on outlets such as The Film Experience, Roger Ebert, Digital Spy, and Slashfilm. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and a Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association member. You can follow him on Twitter @filmguy619. (He/They)

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